Hasui: Night at Shinobazu Pond 夜の池畔 (SOLD)

Artist: Kawase Hasui 川瀬 巴水 (1883-1957)

Title: Night at Shinobazu Pond 夜の池畔（不忍池） (Yoru no chihan(Shinobazu no ike)

Date: January 1932 (Showa shichinen shigatsu saku)

Evocative evening scene with two willow trees seen in silhouette against the reflected lights of Tokyo across Shinobazu Pond in Ueno. Hasui’s vantage point includes a walking path midway that shows shrubs, lanterns and pedestrians all as dark shapes reflecting against the water. The prewar Tokyo buildings in the distance that shine with bright red and yellow lights are only a few stories in height; we can assume that this entire region was leveled during WWII. Today the backdrop would be much brighter and would include many high-rise buildings. This park exists largely intact to this day in Ueno in central Tokyo, and this design is highly sought after in Japan, probably due to the popularity of the park.  First editions that were published before WWII and bear the Doi Sadaichi seal at left are quite scarce. There were postwar editions that were published by Sadaichi’s son, and those bear the label of Doi Hangaten. In the 1960s Uedo Mokuhanga created a copy of this design with recarved blocks, but it bears little resemblance to this original edition. Please note that there are recent (Heisei) editions with recarved blocks that bear a “Doi Sadaichi” seal, mimicking one of the prewar seals, but they do not capture the essence of the design and seem to be printed with recarved blocks. These cannot be compared to a true first edition, as here.

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition.
Dimensions: Ôban (26.3 x 39 cm) Publisher: Doi Sadaichi
Literature: N#D-9; H#278. See MFA, Art Institute of Chicago, VMFA. Hanga ni miru Tokyo no fukei; Kanto daishinsai kara senzen made, Ota Kuritsu Kyodo Hakubutsukan, 2002, pl. 209, p. 53. Seal: Kawase  Signature: Hasui

SKU: HAS632